Capitalism and the Green New Deal - by Bob Urie

Optimism that the incoming Democratic administration will take decisive action to address environmental decline is misplaced. An analogy, in terms of the institutional and political backdrop and an alleged public purpose, is the Affordable Care Act. Sentiment amongst its supporters is that the ACA was better than nothing. In fact, the ACA did not improve health outcomes. What it accomplished was to secure the role of health insurance companies as healthcare intermediaries and increase executive pay. Thomas Ferguson’s ‘investment model,’ where policy favors are exchanged for political contributions, well predicted this outcome.

Read more at: Capitalism and the Green New Deal - CounterPunch.org

USA: White House, Democrats agree to try to reach coronavirus-aid deal by week's end - by J. Nicholsen

After more than a week of almost daily face-to-face meetings, Trump administration officials and congressional Democratic leaders have agreed to try to reach a coronavirus-aid bill deal by the week’s end.

Read more at:
White House, Democrats agree to try to reach coronavirus-aid deal by week's end - MarketWatch

USA Presidential Elections - Fundraising: Biden and Allies Collect More Cash Than Trump for Second Straight Month

Democrat Joe Biden edged out Republican Donald Trump in fundraising for a second straight month in June, data from the rival US presidential campaigns showed on Wednesday.

Biden and allied Democratic groups raked in over $141 million during the month, while President Trump and closely tied groups hauled $131 million.

Biden and Allies Collect More Cash Than Trump for Second Straight Month | Jewish & Israel News Algemeiner.com

USA: Has the coronavirus crisis really severely damaged, if not doomed, Trump’s chances of being re-elected?

Has the coronavirus crisis really severely damaged, if not doomed, Trump’s chances of being re-elected? What the Democrats must do to win.

Read more at:
https://www.theglobalist.com/united-states-coronavirus-pandemic-2020-presidential-elections-donald-trump-republican-party-joe-biden-democratic-party/

US Economy: America′s massive debt load a no-show on the campaign trail

Public health care, education and gun laws are the hottest issues in the US election campaign. But neither Democratic nor Republican hopefuls are eager to discuss the burning question of the country's financial future.

US President Donald Trump is not exactly known for being humble when it comes to describing his leadership credentials. Already in the run-up to the 2016 elections that swept him to power, the then Republican candidate pledged to "eliminate" the $19 trillion (€17.4 trillion) of US debts within a period of eight years.

Now, almost four years later, a look at Trump's debt reduction record is sobering by all counts. Instead of lowering America's debt load, figures recently released by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) show the upward trajectory of the country's financial problems.

Since assuming office, the Trump administration has added a net total of $2.5 trillion in fresh debt, with the US budget deficit in the first four months of 2020 alone rising by 25%. This means that Trump has already spent close to 40% of the entire deficit last year.

The primary reason for the budget gap is Trump's 2017 package of tax cuts, which he once described as a "great Christmas gift to the middle class."

With overall US debts spiraling to $22.5 trillion, the CBO now has warned that such a high and rising debt load could pose a severe financial risk to the United States. The nonpartisan agency has estimated that state spending could surpass revenue by $1 trillion in 2020.

Surprisingly though, neither the Democrats nor the Republicans have made this an issue in their campaigns for the US presidency.

The US "Trump dollar" is totally overvalued

Trump also didn't waste a word on the debt problem in his latest State of the Union address and failed to chart out a clear reduction strategy. All he came up with was the lofty promise of trimming state expenditure by $4.4 trillion over the next decade. At the same time, however, Trump plans to increase spending for the military, the space industry and for the wall he wants to building along the border with Mexico.

Among the Democratic hopefuls, too, the US's dire financial straits seem to be on the backburner of their campaigns. In their first televised debate, all of the candidates conspicuously ignored the debt issue, with the ugly "deficit" word not being mentioned once in the 4-hour road show. Public debts were only once briefly touched upon.

Political observers believe the Democrats have many reasons to keep America's miserable finances flying under the radar during the presidential primaries.

"The average American has no interest in US debt at all," says G. William Hoagland, senior vice president at the Washington-based think tank Bipartisan Policy Center. He told DW that the booming US economy of the past years, including low interest rates and unemployment, had Americans feeling less worried about the mounting deficit.

"So why should Democrats address such a sensitive topic and stick their neck out for it," he says, and notes that most of the voters are satisfied overall with their current financial situation.

Read more: America′s massive debt load a no-show on the campaign trail | Business| Economy and finance news from a German perspective | DW | 25.02.2020

USA: Tourists Beware - US Still Cowboy Country: Mass shootings past 24 hrs kill 30 people in Texas and Ohio

Tourism USA - Still No Gun Control ?

This year alone, there have been at least 32 fatal shootings in America,

Mass shootings in El Paso Texas, and Dayton Ohio. If I was a tourist deciding if I would go on vacation to America, and heard that 29 people were killed within 24 hrs today, in addition to the non-stop gun violence all around the country, and knowing the US has no real gun control laws which work, I would certainly think twice, before I would go to the US on vacation.

Statistics are also showing that the U.S. tourismvhas suffered heavily since 2016. Now it looks like the evidence is finally here.

The bigger picture shows the U.S.is specially  losing ground on the global stage. Arrivals to Europe and Asia-Pacific both increased by 6 percent, while the Middle East saw a 10 percent uptick in 2018. It seems that global travelers are looking elsewhere for their vacations.

“International travel markets posted disparate performance in 2018 including several notable surprises on the downside,” states the report from Tourism Economics.

“After registering average annual growth of 23 percent over the previous decade, Chinese travel to the US stopped in its tracks last year—perhaps in connection to trade tensions. Similarly, South Korea fell 3 percent after averaging 11 percent growth over the prior ten years. Japan also contracted; this continues the narrative of an ever important but languishing market. And Germany surprised with a steep decline in 2018, perhaps evidence of a reaction to unpopular U.S. diplomacy and policies.”

Among some of the major reasons foreign tourists are giving for not choosing the US as their tourist destination  are: inadequate Public Transportation Systens, personal safety, as a result of gun violence and poor infrastructure.

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USA - the Trump Wall: Trump threatens to close southern border if he does not get funding from Congress for his wall

Trump threatens to close southern border if Congress doesn't fund wall

Read more at
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-border-wall-democrats-1.4960459

USA: Trump at the center of massive fraud against the American people says top Democrat

Trump 'at center of massive fraud against Americans', top Democrat says

Read more:   

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/09/donald-trump-michael-cohen-payments-impeachment-jerrold-nadler?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

Norway - Hacking: Norwegian Labour hacked by foreign group

The Norwegian Labour party's parliamentarian group has confirmed it was subjected to an attempted digital attack last autumn, which the Norwegian Police Security Service tied to 'foreign intelligence'. According to a report in Norwegian daily Dagbladet it was the same group that hacked the US Democrats that carried out the attack. It's not yet known whether the attack was successful, ahead of Norway's general elections in September.

Read more: Norwegian Labour hacked by foreign group

Health Care - A Look Into The Crystal Ball - 2017 Editio

Regardless of the outcome of the November election, and by that I mean both the presidential and congressional elections, health care will once again be on the agenda.

At this point, the most likely scenario is a Clinton victory, a change in the Senate majority from GOP to Dem (though it could be very close) and a diminished, but still majority, GOP in the House. This scenario would set up an opportunity for some real progress on several nagging health care issues. To add to the analysis, there is an outside chance that the GOP could lose majority control of the House, but for this to happen, it would require an electoral landslide by Clinton preceded by a Trump implosion. No one is holding their breath on this but it is notable in that it is being discussed.

A Trump victory would obviously change the dynamic and the results of the Senate and House elections would be critical to what might happen. If Trump wins, it is probable that the GOP’s House majority would hold close to its current level with just a few losses, and the outcome of Senate control would be extraordinarily close. Some have even predicted a Trump win could result in a 50/50 split, resulting in the Vice President acting as the tiebreaker. Under this scenario, continued gridlock would be the result.

But under any scenario, neither party is likely to control all branches and chambers, and importantly, no one party will have the 60 votes necessary in the Senate to move any truly controversial legislation.

However, if an opportunity for progress emerges, it would be based less on the raw numbers and more on the message that voters send. The big unknown is will the newly elected and reelected actually hear the message or will they filter it through their own political lens and go forward with business as usual? Arguably, this is what they have done over the last several elections, going forward with their own personal agenda and ignoring what the voters want, which seems to be governance and compromise.

The most important person in a scenario of progress is Speaker Paul Ryan. While a strong conservative, it seems clear that Ryan wants to govern and legislate. He wants to address some of the big challenges facing the U.S. To do this under any scenario requires compromise. In our current political climate, compromise will require will and courage. So the question is does he have both and will he be willing to exercise them if he does?

Read complete report: Health Care - A Look Into The Crystal Ball - 2017 Edition